Wise Rhetoric

[This is an updated review; some of the issues that existed when the N97 was first released have since been addressed. Also, I have moved some of the more elaborate details of the original text into a new review ("A Guide") that I created for the white version.]

Nokia E- and N-series phones have for some years now had, by far, more capabilities than anything else out there – but they have not always been the sexiest or had the widest mass appeal. Plus, although Nokia sell more smartphones than anyone else worldwide, they have not targeted or marketed the US market very heavily (thanks in part to our combination of non-standard wireless technologies and frequencies, consumers’ focus on style over substance, and Nokia’s unwillingness to cater to the fairly heavy-handed branding and crippling of functionality demanded by US network providers).

Much of that is changing with the N97. As you can see it definitely has the visual appeal. Also, its main enhancements over the most recent N-series phones (such as the N95, N96 and N85) are user interface centric:
>> 640×360 WVGA LCD
>> Touch screen
>> QWERTY keypad
>> Faster CPU (ARM11 at 420 MHz vs. 332/369 MHz in the N95/N85, and two ARM9 cores at 265 MHz in the N96)
>> Configurable widgets for the home screen

There are a couple of other improvements as well:
>> 32GB of built-in storage, µSDHC card slot for up to 32GB more (Nokia always advertise only the tested configuration, 16GB)
>> Additional sensors: Magnometer (electronic compass), Proximity

(more…)

Okay i’m not going to be like the other who is going to write about so much details that it will not affect us, i will try to talk from user point of view:

Good:

1- FM radio, transmit MP3 songs to your car radio ( i love it)
2- 48 GB memory capacity so good
3- Video Streaming from Device to TV and the other way around (Excellent feature)
4- Camera quality is good (Not the best but better then many mobile cameras)
5- Front screen template you can organize it the way you want making it so easy to dial, check your email, face book or any other application with just one touch, (Can never be better)
6- very easy to be used
7- Processor speed, way better then any other phone especially Iphone 3G, this mobile 5 times faster then Iphone especially when you are trying to access sms masseges and other application, iphone really slow this phone is way better

Neutral:

Scrolling is not at all competitive to Iphone, it’s better then the previous nokia version 5800

Bad:

Battery: Same battery used on Nokia 71, its good but not good enough to support such mobile with FM transmiter, Blutooth, 3G, WIF etc, you need to charge the phone once a day at least if not more, depending on your usage for the phone and application.

The biggest disappointment is the application, this phone comes with no business applications:

A- Adobe reader, trial 15 days
B- Office, trial 15 days
C- Internet Radio – Not compatible
D- Same boring softwares and applications that we used to download for the past 10 years is still repeating it self in more boring ways
E- Exchange, is still very basic version, ASCI code reading and does not support HTML, making the Exchange emails and other POP3 etc so ugly experience and basic comparing to Iphone.

When i have purchased this device i have concluded that it’s not good enought to be my business phone, i concluded that this device complete the problems of the Iphone and i have to buy both to have proper solution.

Now i’m moving with 2 phones Iphone 3gs 32GB and Nokia 97, which it’s really disappointing from my point of view.

Nokia N97 mistake is the limited applications available for it, i wish that nokia can really improve it by adding free of charge upgrades for the following:

1- HTML format email reading, exchange
2- Office
3- Adobe
4- Flash

Real player should support more video codecs MKV, H.264

Regards

After having this phone, I do not know what else can possibly be done. I am a former Nokia N95 owner, and probably one of the few Nokia phone fans in the USA. Sure this phone is $6-700, and yeah it is not an iPhone but in the long run, you are paying it anyway if you are in the USA. Having an unlocked phone is fantastic because you can pretty much do whatever you want with it, use it anywhere on earth, and not have some carrier crippling your apps etc. I bought it from the nokia flagship in NYC, but I will be buying another from amazon.

The Good Stuff:
The GPS has improved over the already good GPS on the previous high end smartphones. The maps suite works good now, and if you dont like it you can always download google maps. The GPS captures fast, and works inside vehicles better than the one on my n95.

The screen is beautiful, and the phone is pretty much a little laptop. Typing takes a little while to get used to because of the offset space bar, but I got used to it in minutes. The combination of touch and keys does the best of both worlds. Touching is good for UI navigation, but lets face it typing on a touch screen really blows.
The camera is excellent as always shooting DVD like video and the 2 leds put out much more light than the previous 1. A xenon flash would be far better though, but I dont really mind. The camera has a cover that when moved, it activates the camera. Carl Zeiss lens and 5 megapixel resolution. Also a secondary camera for video chat.
The hinge sliding mechanism is very good and well engineered. I dont foresee it breaking. The battery life all depends on how much you use it and how much data you have on. If you have Fring running and doing gps etc it is going to probably only last 10 hours or so.
The web browser is great, it does flash and javascript properly. Web browsing experience is probably the only thing the iPhone has on this though.
There are a ton of unrestricted apps, and the ovi store is a good step.

The bad:
The UI sometimes bogs down. The iPhone feels slick and fast even though it is just as slow, but they are smart and make the animations smooth. The n97 just jumps from screen to screen. I am a programmer, and the one thing you do in UI is always keep something moving. There is some flack about the processor and ram, but I would prefer battery life. However it would be better if Nokia put in a higher speed processor and throttled it down when not needed.

Some key apps are missing. Sports tracker I had to find somewhere, and it is an older version but I got it working. The new version does not work. I love this app and it shows the power of Nokia phones but they foolishly left it out. Same with internet radio. I cant believe the phones do not ship with these, they are amazing apps. Not only do they not ship with them, they do not even have versions for the N97.

These gripes though I think will be fixed with firmware/time. That is the reason for the 4 star. If you want a phone that does absolutely everything conceivable, is not restricted, and does stuff years before the iPhone get this. I compare the iPhone because it seems in the USA if you do not have an iPhone you have some knockoff in other people’s eyes. This is no iPhone knockoff, it beats them in most ways. The biggest thing for me is multitasking. I cannot believe the iPhone does not run apps in the background. Next year there will be iPhone 4.0 which will probably do it, and everyone will be in awe like they invented it. It is about the same dimensions as an iPhone but thicker. Slingplayer worked fine on n95 but it seems they do not have the n97 version out yet. Rest assured that when it does come out it is not going to have that stupid ATT restriction that barred it from the iPhone app store of using only wifi and not the 3g.